Milwaukee Police Department use-of-force encounters hit high

By Alexandria Staubach
 
Milwaukee police encounters involving an officer’s use of force in 2023 hit an all-time high since the current metrics for evaluating incidents were adopted in 2013, with nearly 80% of those use-of-force incidents occurring against Black people.
 
The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission shared the use-of-force data in an annual report presented at a meeting earlier this month. 

​The Milwaukee Police Department recorded 2,285 incidents involving use of force in 2023. A total of 1,333 incidents involved the display or pointing of a firearm only, while an additional 952 involved “hands-on physical force or the discharge of a weapon” according to a presentation to the commission.
 
An annual report a decade ago found 895 comparable uses of “hands-on” physical force or instances where a firearm was used. That number declined substantially in 2014, then remained generally constant until sharp drops in 2019 and 2020. The numbers rose significantly in 2021 and again in 2023, when incidents surpassed even 2013 numbers.

Slide shown by Barbara Cooley, research and policy analysist for the Fire and Police Commission, at the commission's Dec. 5 meeting, detailing those instances where physical force or the discharge of a weapon was involved over time.

 
Black individuals accounted for 76% of all arrests and were the subjects of 80% of officers’ use of force. White individuals accounted for 10% of arrests and were the subject of 12% of the use of force incidents.
 
According to current census data, Black and white Milwaukeeans command roughly equal shares of the city’s population.

Per the report, a typical use-of-force encounter in 2023 involved a white male officer, 36 years old, with nine years of experience, on duty and in uniform.
 
The person experiencing the use of force was typically unarmed, Black, male, 29 years old, and more likely than not resisting arrest.

Table taken from “An Analysis of Use of Force Incidents in the Milwaukee Police Department in 2023,” the annual report prepared for the commission by University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Professor Steven G. Brandl.

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MPD District 3 had the greatest share of use-of-force incidents, with 241 incidents—more than 50 incidents higher than the next district. District 3 also accounts for one of the largest shares of arrests annually (2,339 arrests), essentially tied with District 7 (2,343 arrests).
 
District 3 has jurisdiction over the southern section of Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code. Although a 2019 University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee study found the claim that 53206 is the most incarcerated zip code in America to be exaggerated, that “should not obscure the reality that mass incarceration is an integral component in the ‘ecosystem’ of concentrated disadvantage that continues to weigh on this beleaguered neighborhood," the study said in its key findings.
 
At last week’s commission meeting, Barbara Cooley, a research and policy analysist for the commission, noted the sunsetting of the requirement in the Sterling Brown settlement agreement that required officers to generate a detailed report for instances where they display or point a firearm. Because the requirement has ended, that data will not be included in tallies going forward.
 
MPD Chief of Staff Heather Hough said the information would still be captured, just not included in annual reports like this one.
 
Commissioner Dana World-Patterson noted that an officer pulling a gun is “threatening” and said it seemed like data the commission would like to have. World-Patterson asked Hough how the commission would see the data going forward, a question Hough could not answer.
 
Despite the significant jump in numbers, questions about the report’s findings and for Hough were few. Commissioner Ramon Evans said, “it seems like we’re going backwards.”

The annual report was prepared for the commission by University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Professor Steven G. Brandl.